


you and i at the end of war

by poalimal



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ambiguous 18th Century Setting, Child Soldier, F/M, Fic in the Time of Quarantine, Fundamental Misunderstandings of the Concept of Happiness, Gen, Jealousy, Lack of Communication, M/M, Open Relationship, Pre-Poly, Racism, Revenge Plot, Slavery, implied pegging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:41:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25803793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: 'You have never begrudged me my pleasure before.'
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix/Gérard Lacroix, Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix/Reaper | Gabriel Reyes
Kudos: 10





	you and i at the end of war

Amélie was not upset - she simply did not have time to see him. Did Gabriel think he was so important? Hardly. In the business of plotting an assassination, there were far more important pieces than he. So he had finally snagged the attention of the upstart soldier who would serve as their entry into the castle. He was only four months late!

At the end of the week, however, whilst the rest of the city was carousing, awash in the hope of the imminent end of war, he climbed up her balcony, and waited hours stretched in the sun till she let him in the window. She sat him down at her vanity and gave him cool salving gel for his nose and forearms, which bloomed heat bumps and freckles both. 

His shirt fell open at the neck. He did not bruise easy - so she saw what careful teeth had done.

'You are upset with me,' he said quietly. She could not lie to him when he looked at her like that. Still it pained her to be truthful.

'Am I to be pleased, then,' she said brightly, 'to imagine you bouncing on someone else's cock?'  
  
Gabriel furrowed his brow and put the gel down. 'You have never begrudged me my pleasure before,' he said, 'nor have I begrudged you yours.'

You have never hidden your pleasure from me before, she thought bitterly. They had both of them decided on another route into the castle when the soldier proved too stern a target. She alone had not known Gabriel had kept up with him, so she had not known what to say when Gabriel said, sighful and slow-blinked, not to worry about the moatkeeper; that Jack would sneak him in on the night in question, and so he would find a way to sneak her in.

He could not understand how that had shaken her; how it had stabbed through a part of her she'd kept hidden since Gérard had been killed.

In truth, Gabriel had not always been hers, and she was not quite sure when he had become so. When she'd found him all those years ago, lying out in the street in front of her apartments, he'd been a half-starved wraith, just waiting to die. She had not had any plans for him, back then, other than getting him well, and getting him out and away from her.

She had not meant to take him into her confidence; she had not meant to need him.

'Let us say it is only pleasure, then,' said Amélie, a fist on her waist, 'let us say I do begrudge you. Let us say the wiser option for our operation is the moatkeeper, who more badly needs the money I can give than your soldier could ever need you,' here Gabriel flinched, as if stung, 'would you leave him? If I asked.'

Gabriel frowned - looked to the piano across the room - and frowned again. 'I... I would not like to,' he said.

Amélie smiled. 'You see, then, darling,' she said, sinking down into the ottoman, 'why I am not greatly pleased.'

'I would not tell him of our plans,' Gabriel said slowly, 'if that is what has you worried.' 

He still did not understand, Amélie saw. She was as often pained as she was perplexed by the gaps in his knowledge. As a child sold into war, Gabriel had only been able to buy his way out of the army when most men his age were settled down already, or had earned themselves distinguished commissions. 

But Gabriel had earned himself no favours and no friends. He had, he'd told her, thought that life was all pain, and bloodiness, before meeting her; that one's body was merely meant to be endured. 

_I thought I must be frightening_ , he said, _for everyone always seemed frightened of me_.

And in answer to that pain - what had she given him? She had taught him to undo his shirt at the neck. She had taught him that pleasure was a game, with rules he could learn and bend to suit his purpose. She taught him that his body was not some contraption built for war, but rather a funny, tender thing, which needed food and wine and good company.

But what had she taught him of love? 

Gabriel looked again to the piano - no, not to the piano, she saw - to the framed photo atop it: of Gérard, in his uniform, months before his murder, smiling at her off-screen. Often she had spoken to Gabriel of the way that he had died; rarely had she mentioned the lives they'd built together before. 

Never had she suggested to Gabriel that the two of them could build a life together now.

Was it a wonder, then, that he had hidden his soldier from her? More fool her - and more fool him. He did not seem to understand that his Jack would find out one way or the other, what their true plans really were.

And then he would be alone again, wouldn't he? If even they survived. And then - would she be happy? When the man who ordered her husband killed was dead, and the man she loved now was miserable? Would she finally be content?

'I do not mean to upset you, dear Gabriel. I think I worry only because I do not know your man,' Amélie said smoothly, changing course at once. 'Perhaps-- perhaps I should meet him.'

Gabriel narrowed his eyes - wary, watchful. Good man, she thought proudly. He would be a fool to trust her so easily. 'You said it was not safe for him to see us together.'

Amélie waved this away. 'Oh, I'm sure I can manage to bump into him accidentally,' she said. Still Gabriel did not seem convinced. 'Don't look so serious, darling! It will be a meeting of a few moments - then he will be all yours again. I promise.' 

'Hmph.' Gabriel gave her a suspicious look that tickled her all the way to her toes, then turned in his seat at the vanity. Gingerly he returned to applying the gel to his cheeks.

Amélie swallowed back a bit of a sigh - she certainly hoped this Jack was worth the headache she had planned for him. But if she had to tie him down in torment, if she had to rout out his vilest secrets, she would. And if she had to drag him kicking and screaming into their plans, she'd do that, too. For Gabriel had never asked her for anything, and she had given him even less. She could give him this one thing.

And if this Jack refused to be given - well, at least then Amélie could give Gabriel his revenge.


End file.
